


Hugo's Hill

by Zalphon



Category: Arphasia's Curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 00:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17131877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zalphon/pseuds/Zalphon
Summary: The story of the sacrifice of Hugo Underthorn, the greatest halfling to ever live.





	Hugo's Hill

**Hugo’s Hill**

_By Logan Underthorn, Deputy Sheriff_

I wasn’t born yet when the Meteor struck.  Ma and Pa always told me it turned the sky redder than a fire beetle and that the ground shook harder than the day Big Belly Finley got in a fight with an earth roller beneath his house, but like I said, I don’t remember.  I just know that everyone here at One Stump talks about how things used to be—before the Meteor.  About how before the Great Hole, we didn’t have to be afraid.  I don’t know much what that was like, but I reckon it was mighty fine to be alive back then.  I even heard about how we used to trade with the Hive a lot and get so much honey we couldn’t make enough biscuits to keep up with it and I tell you, that must have been great.  We don’t get much honey these days though which is a darn shame because ain’t no biscuits like biscuits with fresh Avalian honey and that’s a fact.  Except maybe biscuits with some of Ma’s jams, but even then, it’s not the same.

 

But anyways, I didn’t make deals all across town to get some good paper to tell you all about what things used to be like before the Hole.  Nope, didn’t do that.  That’d be awful silly, because you probably know about it more than I do.  What I traded my button collection, a week’s Good Rations, and my last bottle of strawberry brandy for was so that I could tell you the story of my late older brother, Hugo Underthorn, probably the greatest Avalian to ever live, I reckon.  Ain’t nobody you ever met was as brave as Hugo and that’s a fact you can take to Old Miss Lacey’s Bank and I promise you for a fact, Old Miss Lacey’ll tell you the exact same thing. 

 

You see, my brother Hugo was a Sheriff before the Meteor.  You know, like I am.  Well, he was the Sheriff, not a deputy like me, but that’s not the point.  You see, here in One Stump, the Sheriff and his deputies are in charge of keeping the town safe from the things that make it not so safe.  Back then, it was just Hugo and his best friend (and deputy) Lars who did that kinda thing, because Avalia wasn’t always the dangerous place it is today.  There were no Hole Demons back then—just the occasional problem with the wildlife wandering into town and eating our crops (or on occasion, one of the Greatpaws would wander in and cause a mighty ruckus) and Hugo and Lars would have to handle it.  I mean, sure, there was the occasional missing pie from a windowsill or Mr. Gorman getting in trouble for having a little too much mead, but for the most part, it was a quiet little town and that’s the way we liked it. 

 

Well, that all changed with the Meteor.  Pa told me how after the Meteor, things in Avalia stopped being so simple and peaceful like he liked.  He told me how the Nymphs and their like started acting mighty mean which was awful strange for them because Pa told me how they had always been a mighty nice folk.  He even mentioned that once, before he met Ma, he—well maybe I shouldn’t overshare, but that’s not the point.  Pa talked a lot about how they were always such nice folk until the Meteor, but that changed.  Like everything, I’m told.  You see, you may think not having honey for your biscuits would be the worst part, but let me tell you what, there are things mighty worse than having to eat dry biscuits.  Like how the Gubber boys went running to check out the Meteor.

 

You see, the Gubbers were a big family in One Stump.  Probably the biggest family in fact with Mr. and Mrs. Gubber having thirteen children and those children were the wildest, craziest kids in all of One Stump according to Pa.  The boys’d snatch pies and the girls would be out at Gumble’s talking the regulars into buying them drinks all night long and let me tell you, girls that pretty had no problem talking half the lads in One Stump out of their hard-earned money.  But the Gubber Boys got a mighty dumb idea in their head that they oughta go check out the Meteor despite my brother telling them not to.  You’d think they’d know better than to argue with my brother given he was the Sheriff, but you know how Gubbers are—once they get an idea in their head, they just go for it like a pack of hounds to chow. 

 

Well, them Gubber boys didn’t come back and my brother Hugo decided that he had to go after them because that’s just the kinda thing Hugo did.  He was the bravest man in all of One Stump you know.  Anyways, he talks Lars into going with him and before you know it, my brother Hugo’s wandering all over Avalia and seeing just how different things are.  The wildlife looked mighty feral and the trees themselves had been twisted and warped and most men would’ve turned tail and run faster than a chipmunk who had just saw a hungry hawk, but not Hugo.  Hugo kept on walking because ain’t nothing scared him.

 

Well my brother found the Hole and he saw them Gubber boys, but they were different.  They were what we call Hole Demons.  They got taller somehow, greener, eyes turned red, mighty thin too, with nasty black claws and sharp teeth.  Well he told them boys to stand down, but they charged and he and Lars ran, but not because he was afraid.  Hugo was never afraid.  He was just retreating, because Hugo was smart enough to know that even he couldn’t kill seven Hole Demons by himself (no offense to Lars, but the only reason he was a deputy is because he was Hugo’s best friend).

 

So they ran to a hill and they kept on coming and he realized they’d follow him all the back to One Stump if he ran, so he looked at Lars and told him to go back to One Stump and warn them of what’s coming.  Lars didn’t want to leave my brother, but my brother made him, so Lars ran as fast as he could, but Hugo stayed there and fought off the Hole Demons the best he could.  He died fighting for all of us.

 

Things changed since my brother died.  Like most of us except the sick, the old, and the infirm now serve as either Sheriff or Marshall Deputies.  There were no Marshalls back when my brother was around, but they do what he did.  They go outside One Stump to fight the Hole Demons, like he did.  And you know Hugo, I never met you, but I hope you’re proud of me wherever you are.  Ma still talks about you a lot.  Pa passed a couple winters ago in a raid, but he talked about you just as much as Ma.  I hope you’re proud of me, Hugo.  I hope Pa is too. 

 

_Deputy Logan Underthorn_


End file.
